Recent years have seen an increase in demand for low power consumption in cell phones and suchlike, and in some drive methods employed by such devices, particularly in the case where still images or suchlike are displayed, scan stop periods (hold off periods) are set in order not to change applied voltages for predetermined periods of time, so that the overall drive frequency can be kept low, i.e., the cycle of drive can be set long.
Furthermore, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-242818 discloses a liquid crystal display device in which first and second display areas are provided (virtually) within the bounds of a display screen, such that the display areas are equal in input cycle of video signals provided to pixel forming portions therein, but when compared to a normal cycle of driving a first group of scanning signal lines in the first display area, the cycle of driving a second group of scanning signal lines in the second display area is set longer. This configuration reduces power consumption for driving the second group of scanning signal lines in the second display area.